Grandy

Today was another sad day for Scott's family, as it was Grandy's funeral. In 5 months time Gran, Scott's mum lost both parents.

Above you see a photo of Grandy, James (Johnny) Johnson, just after his arrival in New Zealand, in front of a pub in Blackpool on the West Coast. He came from England as a seaman in the merchant navy, jumped shipped in New Zealand, spent some time in prison for that, after which he met Nana and started a new life as a miner in Greymouth. He never went back to his home country.

After Nana's death in August Grandy hadn't been feeling too great, and after he got diagnosed with cancer not so long ago, it went downhill with him. Fortunately he died peacefully, at home, just like he had always wanted it.




Ilias' last picture with Grandy: only 80 years between the two of them... We were lucky we got to spend a lot of time with Johnny during our 2,5 weeks stay on the West Coast during the Christmas break.